Academics

Our Approach

Our approach to learning is based on the SABIS® Educational System™, a proven curriculum taught around the world, and places us at the top of Minneapolis private schools. We believe in collaborative learning and assessments.

Curriculum

Starting in Preschool and continuing until graduation, students at the International School of Minnesota in Eden Prairie (ISM) are steeped in English, Math, Science, World Languages and cultures, Social Studies, Fine Arts, Music, and Physical Education. In keeping with our global orientation, our students receive dailyinstruction in world languages taught by native speakers. By graduation, ISM students master at least one world language in addition to English.

Students in Preschool through Grade 3 receive on-site swimming lessons in our heated, indoor pool, helping instill a lifelong habit of physical fitness. Our curriculum has been carefully designed to educate students with diverse cultural backgrounds. Our approach prepares our graduates to enter colleges and universities around the world and helps them succeed in life.

Collaborative learning

In every subject and at every grade level, our academic approach provides a special structure that promotes mastery of essential concepts. This proven and highly effective system engages students through a dynamic and collaborative learning process.

Our teachers—knowledgeable and passionate facilitators of learning—initiate the system as they introduce concepts to students and engage them in instruction that hones critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities. At critical points in the learning process in each lesson, the classroom is divided into smaller groups, enabling student prefects to reinforce and confirm learning.

In this fluid process, our students have the opportunity to explore their understanding, seek clarification, and receive reinstruction as needed—as part of an engaged community of learners.

Assessments

The instructional process at ISM is supported by regularly scheduled assessments that measure student progress and help identify areas for review. Students are not measured against one another; rather, they are treated as individuals measured against desired outcomes. In this way, ISM students achieve subject mastery and become confident test takers, many of whom score in the upper percentiles among other schools in the Minneapolis area on standardized tests such as the AP®, ACT® , and SAT® tests. This comprehensive preparation for college has ensured a 100% college acceptance rate to meet the challenges of a changing world.